Jazz with Jeff Duperon

Friday, 6 to 10 pm

Trumpeter Duane Eubanks isn’t yet as well known as his brothers (trombonist Robin and guitarist Kevin), but his highly listenable album, Things Of A Particular Nature, should mitigate his under-the-radar status. This Philadelphia native is a top-notch musician, having fronted the horn section in the late pianist Mulgrew Miller’s group, Wingspan, and as a member of two-time Grammy-winning Dave Holland Big Band, while playing with many others.

Albert "Tootie" Heath is one of the most accomplished jazz drummers of the past 60 years. The 79-year-old has played with everyone from John Coltrane to Ethan Iverson, the piano player for The Bad Plus. Iverson and bassist Ben Street join Tootie Heath for his new album, Philadelphia Beat, named for the fertile jazz city of Heath's upbringing — where, as a young man starting out, he once piloted a group consisting only of the drums and two horns.

Be sure to listen to WRTI between 9 pm and midnight on March 23rd through the 25th for your chance to win tickets to see acclaimed pianist Jason Moran and his band, The Bandwagon, perform at the Kimmel Center's Perelman Theater on Sunday, March 29th at 7:30 pm. J. Michael Harrison and Bob Craig will present excerpts of a recent interview with Jason Moran, and they'll give away passes to this much-anticipated show.

A sweet weekend of romantic music is planned for all of our listeners...so get ready! We're warming up for Valentine's Day on Friday, just after 12 noon. Jack Moore will bring you Romance for Cello, Harp and Strings by Hungarian composer Leo Weiner, Rachmaninoff's ultra-romantic Piano Concerto No. 3, and Pablo de Sarasate's virtuoso Fantasy on Gounod's Romeo and Juliet for violin and orchestra.

Growing up, Warren "Butch" Oree never had dreamed of becoming a musician. Though jazz was a constant presence in both his home life and social activities, the thought of actually getting on stage didn't cross his mind until he wandered into a music shop in his mid-twenties.

Upon learning that Oree had a long-standing interest in the upright bass that he had never pursued, the shop keeper, James Mitchell, accused him of cowardice - one thing that Oree, who was then a respected gang member, deeply resented.

What do you get when you put together a hard-driving percussive Bebop saxophonist with a lyrical, warm Cool Jazz saxophonist? Sonny Stitt and Stan Getz, of course! February 2nd marks the birth of both of these giants of jazz, and Bob Perkins is getting set to celebrate.

Stitt and Getz both arrived on the jazz scene in the mid 1940s. And both went through numerous assignments in big bands and combos as they continued developing their unique jazz voices.

Vocalist Venissa Santi's musical journey has been one of intimate self discovery. Since childhood, her Cuban parents familiarized her with the sounds of her culture, but not until adulthood did she make pilgrimage to Havana and truly fall in love with the country's songbook.

WRTI's Jeff Duperon takes you to the 2015 Winter Jazzfest in New York City. He'll be tweeting from January 8 - 10 while taking in the sights and sounds of this annual jazz marathon, which started in 2005 and is still going strong.